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Arsenal’s Premier League trophy parade: title celebrations in north London – live | Arsenal
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David Wall gets in touch: “While I agree that Arsenal have something to celebrate today, winning the league at any time is a brilliant achievement, it seems as though they are moving on very quickly from their defeat yesterday. Perhaps that has to do with the manner of the loss and the fact that they were underdogs, that they did the best they could, etc, etc. There has been an attempt to justify Arsenal’s approach by saying that if they’d actually tried to take on PSG by attacking them, ‘going toe-to-toe’, then they would have been hammered. I think that’s garbage. Bayern Munich tried to really play against them and it was incredibly close (and could easily have gone in their favour especially if you consider that Neuer pretty much gifted PSG two goals with bad, uncharactieristic mistakes).”
There are lots of smiles among those players. An overhead shot shows fans peeling off down perpendicular streets and running to get another view of those rather fast-moving buses.
Myles Lewis-Skelly spoke to Sky before boarding the bus: “It’s disappointing because, you know, when you’re so close to a dream, a goal, and you feel slightly short, but it just, you know, as Mikel said, adds fuel to the fire, so we’ll use that for us.
“It means it means everything just to share this moment with our people. Yeah, definitely gonna see my family here is always gonna be, it’s gonna be emotional. The last, you know, couple of weeks have been incredible.
“I feel like it’s a start of a new era. And I feel like we’re ready to go out and achieve our dreams. Yeah, you know, [Arteta]’s been so supportive of me over my whole journey. So I’m just so grateful for him and, you know, everything I can, I can repay him in the trust he’s giving me. I am so grateful.”
Jesper Kallstrom – related to Kim? – gets in touch: “Let Spurs fans talk more about tactics, it’s highly amusing and fills me with a warm feeling, also consider that Arsenal were the only team to score an open play goal yesterday, against the best attack in Europe. One-dimensional eh? Stay safe, stay 17th.”
Steve Farole gets in touch: “This season’s Arsenal is a classic example that two things can be true at the same time.
“Arteta built Arsenal to compete in today’s league, matching teams’ physicality while building a defence to neutralise counter-attacking football, in a way that Guardiola and Slot failed to do. His team’s endeavor, tactical discipline, and – dare I say it – bottle were impressive. They were worthy winners of this year’s league.
“At the same time, they scored the fewest goals of any Premier League winner since Leicester in 2015-16 and leaned heavily on set pieces to generate offense. That the league is trending towards a reliance on set pieces doesn’t make that style of play any easier on the eyes. And the inability to generate offense from open play is what hampered Arsenal in the league and did so again last night (one shot between the 45th and 120th minutes).
“Arsenal have a great foundation to build on, so let’s see if Arteta can add some attacking verve to this team next season. If he can, it’s hard to see who will compete with them in the league.”
The noise level is off the scale as the buses make their way down the Holloway Road, the party bus leading the throng. The bus is going at quite a lick, faster than might be expected, quicker than you can usually drive down Holloway Road. Red smoke fills the air. No pyro, no party?
The third bus, the women’s players, Lotte Wubben-Moy and Leah Williamson, are grooving away to the music. There’s fans on rooftops. The men’s players look a little subdued at the moment, they’ve had a long day already.
Declan Rice is at the front of the bus, sipping from an Arsenal-branded cup. At the back of the bus, Christhian Mosquera is leading the dancing. The shirts each have “Champions 26” on the back.
The buses get moving
The first bus has players and manager aboard, the second has staff, the third has the women’s team. Mikel Arteta is wearing shades and gives a speech to his players and some of those in the inner circle of friends and family. There’s a mobile DJ playing music, and will broadcast the players’ words when they come. They cross the bridge, which has “This Belongs To All Of Us” written on the road.
Here we go, Fatboy Slim’s music is playing, Right Here, Right Now the fans are asked: “are you ready?” The players and manager Mikel Arteta, are all clad in Arsenal shirts, Martin Odegaard has the Premier League trophy in his hand. Stuart MacFarlane, the club snapper, is taking the pics as the players cross the Danny Fizsman bridge. The players are all wearing their medals.
Craig Fawcett joins the Spurs commentary and gets in touch. Guess all the Gunners are at the parade: “Another biased opinion from Spurs here. You’re 100% right that Arsenal deserved the title. But even the most ardent Spurs fan could watch a Wenger team and say they played good football. This Arsenal team are so one-dimensional. That’s what killed them last night. I can’t remember a single standout team goal from this season. They’re set piece bullies, deserving of their success in the same way Pulis-era Stoke were. Enjoy the parade!”
The open-top buses are beginning to fill up; there’s three at the moment.
The buses for the Arsenal team – the women’s Champions Cup success is also being celebrated – are ready, parked outside the back of the Emirates.
Some reaction from last night in Budapest.
There is another team in north London. They’re not having a good time of it, though there was succour last night. Hugh Giles gets in touch to say: “As a Tottenham fan living in north London today is a day for staying inside. Having said that, if I could have scripted yesterday I would have gone with something along the lines of what happened. The penalty shootout was pure perfection, in particular Eze’s absurd miss. And one shot in more than two hours of football put paid to any suggestion that this is somehow a “great” team.”
Perhaps even the most bitter Spurs fans would accept that Arsenal were deserved champions of England. Last night was a different story. Tough to win a game with so little possession.
Arrived back in London on Saturday from Sheffield, an hour before kick-off, and Highbury & Islington station was filled with Arsenal shirts. One fan was wearing a Nicolas Pepe shirt; perhaps that was an omen. No Yaya Sanogo replicas spotted, surely one at the parade today.
Live stream of parade available
It’s available at the top of the page, and with this link, too.
The Gunners players are getting ready at the Emirates.
The scenes in north London are far more convivial than what took place in Paris last night. Let’s hope that sustains.
Rob Draper’s read on the Arsenal title triumph is well worth a look.
“It was the perfect storm in that you had a really driven young manager, bright, well-schooled, ambitious and enthusiastic. You’ve got the money and you had a board that gave him time,” said one former senior employee at the club who was close to Arteta. “He told them it would take five years.”
All the senior Arsenal sources spoken to for this article have praised the Kroenke family and some pointed to the more active involvement of Josh Kroenke, the 46-year-old son of the patriarch Stan, as a key player at that point. “I had the impression he persuaded the board to pull the emergency cord on funding,” said one.
This is the organised parade, what happened last Tuesday was far more impromptu.
They approach via the familiar sidestreets, Gillespie Road, Benwell Road, Hornsey Road, the little shortcut past The Plimsoll pub. The night is cool and calm and still, the air rumbling with adoration and freedom, the sensation of chains being broken. As they reach the stadium, perfect strangers grip each other by the shoulders, bound by shared memory, shared trauma, a shared hymnbook. What do you think of shit? Tottenham! Thank you. That’s all right! A firework is let off, and then another. People are FaceTiming their relatives. People are getting selfies with Ian Wright. The crowd is hundreds, and then thousands, a lawless melee that in classic Arteta-ball tradition features plenty of jostling but no free-kicks awarded. Meanwhile, in the digital wilds beyond, the celebration police have laid down their truncheons and riot shields.
Here’s David Squires’ take on the 2025-26 Premier League champions.
Before the parade begins, let’s relive some of last night, and this season.
The crowds really are deep in numbers along the route, with airhorns to the fore. Upper Street is brimming over. A few fans were in Budapest last night and caught flights at 2am to be there. Many who were there will be arriving at a time when the parade is on.
The route: Holloway Road, around Seven Sisters, through Blackstock Road to Newington Green, then Essex Road before turning right at Angel station on to Upper Street. But not, note, past the Emirates, which has been cordoned off.
Preamble
If you have been in the streets of London in the last week, or even on a train travelling to London, Arsenal shirts have been everywhere. Today is when they converge once more, for the trophy parade of the Premier League. Not the Champions League trophy, of course, that remains in Paris, but the mood is one of celebration. It’s been 22 years since Gunners fans could celebrate being top of the heap in England. How many will be there? The estimates range as high as a million. That might even be an underestimate.
The open-top buses set off at 2pm.
So, join me for coverage.
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
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Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
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